Heroes & Sidekicks

"Sometimes sidekicks make the best heroes."

Author's Note: Hey guys! In honor of Comic Con this week I decided to get my act together and post the latest chapter. So here you go. Please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of its characters.

Chapter Twelve

Stiles stood frozen, unable to respond further to Scott's news. His brain wasn't properly processing anything further. It was instead stuck on a graphic image of Royce wrapped in Derek's arms, kissing his neck while Derek smirked triumphantly at Stiles before the two began well, "going at it" so to speak. Stiles physically gagged, trying to dispel the image from his mind. He shook his head.

Scott watched Stiles go pale as he thought over what Royce was doing. His friend looked up, almost ill.

"Please tell me you're making an awful joke." Stiles finally spoke again.

Scott shrugged weakly. He felt guilty—he hadn't thought that Stiles would react so badly. "No, not a joke. She thinks that Derek has a thing for her. She wants to use that to get closer to him so that we can all work together."

Stiles rubbed his neck as he considered her plan. "Do you think that she actually likes him?" he asked softly.

Scott struggled to find the right words. He didn't want to completely crush Stiles. He blew out a frustrated puff of air. "I don't know. It's Derek—there's not much personality to like, but he's an alpha. He's older. And well…you've seen him—you've got eyes."

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut. "You're right. I'm screwed."

Scott leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "What? Why does it matter? You're with Lydia now. Aren't you?"

Stiles ran a hand over his hair. His foot was bouncing up and down like a jackhammer. "I don't know. I guess. I think I could be eventually. She's still got something going with Jackson, but she seems confused. I think she could have real feelings for me."

"That's great." Scott said rather unenthusiastically. He didn't like that answer for either Stiles's or Royce's sake. He needed to say something. "But just so you know, there is a girl out there, very close, that I know has real feelings for you."

"If that's true then why is she off hooking up with another guy right now?" he grumbled.

"If you're as crazy about her as you seem to be, why were you just hooking up with another girl an hour ago?" Scott shot back so sharply that Stiles was actually speechless.
"Besides she's with Derek for our plan and because she was hurt, not because she's confused about her feelings for you."

"You think I'm crazy about her?" Stiles scoffed. "I mean I like her…"

Scott had to laugh. "I know you're crazy about her. Otherwise you wouldn't even hesitate to jump in with Lydia. In fact, you seem to be on the brink of forgetting about Lydia altogether or at least trying to for Royce. That doesn't tell you anything?"

Stiles sighed. He covered his face with his hands and his shoulders began to shake a little. Scott panicked—was Stiles crying?

And then he heard the muffled laughter and smiled in relief. Stiles took his hands away from his face. "Did you ever think I'd have two girl after me at the same time?" he asked. It was clearly a rhetorical question, but Scott felt the impulse to answer anyway.

"Absolutely not!"

Royce suddenly slammed back against one of the subway seats. It took her only a second to catch her breath before she reached up to grab Derek's arm and pull him down on top of her. He landed with a thud as his hands crashed against the lip of the seat bench and the back rest on either side of her. Royce wriggled to get more comfortable as he hovered over her. She enjoyed the view of the straining arm muscles that held him above her more than she cared to admit. She laughed at their uncomfortable situation—a subway car isn't exactly the best place to make-out.

"Do you really not have a bed anywhere around here?"

"I didn't really think I'd need one for this purpose." Derek admitted though he wore a cocky smirk like he knew the surprise 'victory' was coming all along.

"That's very pessimistic of you Derek—you should really think more of yourself," she teased, running her hand down his back and eliciting a small, but incredibly rare and genuine smile. She put her hands gently on either side of his face. "You've got a great smile. I'd like to see it more." She told him. Her voice was almost affectionate. Then she leaned forward for a slow and sultry kiss that sucked them both in deep.

Derek's hands wandered towards Royce's stomach, trailing her shirt upwards from the strong grip on her hips. Royce followed his lead dipping her hands under his shirt, but he was working too slowly for her liking. She loved the feel of his hands on her waist almost as much as she savored the feel of his ab and chest muscles under her hands. She broke his kiss and tugged his shirt off over his head without asking for his permission, but he didn't mind that much. And he definitely didn't mind when she started kissing her way down his bare chest, sliding her tongue along the creased definitions of his muscles. He groaned and pulled her head up back to his. He kissed her quickly and started to slip her tank top over her head when his hands froze.

He pushed away from her slightly and quirked her head to the side. Royce stared up at him with a question in her eyes, but he wasn't looking back at her. She placed her hands on top of his and tried to help him with the shirt, but he tightened his grip on her hips so that they couldn't be moved.

She shifted so that she was leaning on her elbows instead of her back. "You realize I'm not objecting to less clothes, right? In fact, I'm suggesting it."

Derek looked back down at her, his chest heaving a little as he tried to catch his breath and slow his heart. She wasn't helping his concentration. He smiled when he processed what she said, but he had to shake his head.

She raised an eyebrow at him. He simply tapped his ear. She listened more carefully. He understood why she hadn't noticed anything. The subway station was riddled with constant echoes and drips and animal pitter-patter, but Derek had spent much of his time navigating the subway tunnels. He knew the sounds that belonged and the ones that didn't.

Once she was no longer worried that he wasn't just having second thoughts, she could see the vigilance on his face. That's when she heard it too. The footsteps. She leaned up to whisper in his ear so low that she basically just breathed the words at him. "Your brat pack?"

He shivered. He pulled back to look in her eyes. "I don't know. Stay here," he ordered. He moved to get off her, but stopped briefly to leave her with one more kiss before exiting the car.

Royce rose from her seat and gathered her jacket from where she had thrown it. She put it back on and began fixing her appearance in case she had to go socialize with Derek's pack.

She perked her ears up, waiting for the conversation to start. But there was nothing. And that's when it clicked that something was wrong. Listening closely she could hear that there were too many footsteps coming too quietly. It was the sound of people walking like they didn't want to be heard. Why would Derek's pack be afraid of being heard in their own alpha's lair?

"Shit!" Royce cursed. She bolted out of the car. Derek was standing on the subway platform, looking around slowly as though studying every quadrant of the room to pick out exactly what was wrong.

There was a sudden whiz of wind like something slicing through the air. They both heard it at the same time, but Royce was the first to act.

She shot across the room and tackled Derek out of the path of the arrow. The arrow lodged itself into one of the large stone pillars and promptly exploded.

Royce tumbled over herself, but ended up on her feet ready for action. Derek landed on his feet right next to her. "That would have hurt like a bitch if that had lodged into your skull."

"Yea, thanks."

Allison emerged from the shadows, brandishing her bow and an arrow newly notched to shoot. She stared at Derek with such contempt that she barely saw Royce. She didn't care at all until Royce stepped in front of Derek to try and talk her down.

Allison faltered. "What are you doing?" she sounded confused, maybe even a little hurt.

Royce could see moving around the perimeter in the shadows. She and Derek were about to be surrounded.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Royce replied, reaching her hand out slowly for a large shard of stone that had blown from the pillar in the blast.

"I just want Derek. Get out now—this isn't about you."

Derek shifted so he could look beyond Royce's head to Allison. "Where's your daddy Allison?" he called out to her. "Does he not approve of this little mission?"

Allison cocked her bow a little tighter.

Royce glared at him over her shoulder. "You really think you should taunt her right now?" she hissed at him.

"You shouldn't worry about my dad. You should worry about them." Allison warned him, nodding at the other three hunters who all trained their guns at the two werewolves.

Royce looked between Allison and the other three hunters. "Scott wasn't kidding when he said it was complicated, huh?"

Allison blinked hard a few times, taken off guard at hearing Scott's assessment of their relationship.

"Stop trying to distract me!" she shouted.

Royce wrapped her fingers around the stray shard and pulled it towards her body. "I'm sorry Allison. Nothing against you. I actually really like you. But I can't let you have him." Royce said and she whipped the stone at one of the other hunters. The motion was so fast that he had no time to protect himself. It knocked him hard on the head, sending him sprawling to the ground unconscious.

Derek took her lead, moving quickly as soon as she threw the rock. He sprung himself at the other two hunters, narrowly dodging the arrow Allison release in his direction while Royce ducked behind a pillar that was still standing for cover. She peaked around to see Allison tracking Derek's movements with her bow, waiting for a clear shot.

Royce groaned and quickly moved to scale the stairs to confront the huntress. Allison saw Royce incoming and swung her bow at Royce's face. Royce ducked just in time to avoid contact and thrust her arms upwards to knock the bow away. That didn't stop Allison for very long. She immediately attacked, slicing deftly at Royce with a knife in each hand. She attacked with reckless abandon.

Royce was impressed with Allison's fighting skills. The girl was very well-trained. That only made it harder to keep her at bay without hurting her. Royce had always been good at defense, but she was better at attack.

Royce gasped as Allison nicked her neck and her stomach in quick succession. Her eyes flashed and she growled. Allison thrust her left knife again and Royce caught her wrist, twisting it sharply until the knife clattered to the ground. The right hand and second knife came at Royce immediately. She dodged the attack and instinct took over. She kicked her foot forward, landing the hit square in Allison's stomach. Allison fell back against the wall sharply. She was slow to move, dazed by the blow.

"Sorry Allison. We should definitely talk about this soon!" Royce said, before running to help Derek disable the other hunters long enough to make a clean getaway.

Royce let Derek lead her away from the hunters, getting lost among the buildings of downtown Beacon Hills and trusting him to lead her somewhere safe. They stopped only briefly in an alleyway for Derek to call his pack and warn them away from the lair. Royce took the time to call Scott quickly and tell him that something had gone wrong. That's all she wanted to say over the phone. She told him that they were heading to one of the cheap motels in town and that he and Stiles should meet them there ASAP before hanging up on him.

When they got to the motel, Royce waited outside while Derek went to get a room. Royce didn't think that the motel was the safest location. Now that the hunters had found Derek's hideout, she had to think that they would assume he'd find a hotel to lay low in until he found a new place. The motel wasn't exactly Fort Knox. Two stories worth of stucco walls with chipped paint and no way of fortifying from attack would not be much help when Allison came looking for Derek again. Royce had a fleeting thought to bring Derek back to her pack—there she knew that he would be safe from the hunters. The thought didn't last long though since she was pretty sure that she would no longer be safe if she brought him there.

Derek returned with a key to room 218 and they quickly made their way over to it, looking behind themselves with every step to make sure they hadn't been tailed.

Royce texted Scott the room number and shucked her jacket when they got inside. She collapsed on the bed. It was the first time in over an hour that she had really let herself breathe. Derek leaned against the door and seemed to do the same. He watched her carefully, seemingly scrutinizing her.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "What?"

"You surprised me tonight. You fought with me. Why?"

"I wasn't kidding when I said that I wanted to be allies—and more than just because it means we can hook up."

"You pushed me out of the way of an exploding arrow," he stated as though it hadn't fully sunk in.

"Yea, well, no one should die like that. And you're kind of growing on me." She added, closing her eyes so she didn't have to look at him.

There was a long pause. "You're bleeding." Derek finally spoke. He really didn't know what else to say without taking the conversation in a direction he wasn't prepared for. "And it's getting all over the bed."

Royce lifted her hand to cover her neck, but that cut was very superficial. It wasn't wet anymore—the blood had dried. She opened her eyes and looked down at her stomach. Her shirt was struggling to sop up the crimson fluid and keep it from blending with the ugly purple and red flowered bedspread. "Yea, Allison got me pretty good with one of those knives. I think it was laced with wolfsbane or something. I can feel it healing, but it's slow. The running didn't help." She sighed and sat up. She scooted to the edge of the bed so that she dripped on it less.

Derek went into the bathroom and emerged with a couple of towels. Royce laughed a little, but stopped when the shaking made her cut burn. "Are you going to play nurse, Florence Nightingale?"

"Shut up and lean back."

She didn't argue, just followed orders. He knelt down and lifted her shirt slightly to get to the cut. Once again he was too tentative for Royce's taste. She rolled her eyes. She stood up straight and put her hands on top of his. "Do you have a thing about not taking my shirt off?"

"What?"

"When we were making out, you were too chicken to just make the move and now in weirdly similar circumstances you're shying away again."

He scoffed. "This isn't a similar circumstance. You're hurt."

"It's a cut! I'm not an invalid! You've got quite a bit of blood on your chest too buddy!" she exclaimed, smacking his bare chest with the back of her hand.

"Do you want me to clean you up or not?"

"I'd love you to." She pulled his hands away from her body. "Let me make it easier for you." With one swift motion she slip her tank top over her head and threw it on the dresser on the other side of the room. She leaned back and smirked. He sucked in a breath, raking his gaze over her torso and the lacing lingerie boosting her chest. "Go to town, my friend."

Derek cleared his throat and caught her eye. He glared at her. But she had to give him credit. He focused on the cut, gently cleaning it out with the damp towel. It felt better and better as he scrapped away the wolfsbane residue from the knife.

He finished and pressed a dry towel to the cut to stop the bleeding. He pulled his hands away and placed one of her s on top of the towel to hold it in place.

"Thank you," she told him sincerely.

He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Thank you."

He pulled back and she smiled as she looked him in the eyes. "Anytime." She reached up to put her free hand on his chest.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"Seeing a side to you that I didn't know existed." She slipped her hand behind his neck. "One that I'm actually liking." She pulled him a little closer to her.

"Don't expect to see it again."

She grinned and leaned towards him when there was a pounding on the door. Derek let out a frustrated growl and got up to see who it was. Royce flopped back on the bed. Derek opened the door.

"Get in here now." Derek ordered gruffly. Royce looked up to see Scott and Stiles enter.

Stiles saw her shirtless and his face fell, "You've got to be kidding me."